


Sunshine, Rainbows and Happily Ever After

by cochise



Category: Hawaii Five-O (1968)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-24
Updated: 2013-03-11
Packaged: 2017-12-03 12:36:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/698300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cochise/pseuds/cochise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A What Happened Next for I Want Some Candy and a Gun that Shoots.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this story starts with scenes from the end of the episode.

Sunshine, Rainbows and Happily Ever After.

The situation was about as bad as it could get. Steve McGarrett sighed heavily. Tommy Ewa, a good cop, badly hurt. His partner, Ryder, dead. Big Paul, who had come in on his vacation, had been shot and it didn’t look good for him, either. Shem’s psychiatrist had been unable to talk him down from the bunker on Diamondhead where he was holed up. Shem’s wife, who seemed barely old enough to be married, refused to speak to him and Shem’s mother – well, she was a piece of work!

There wasn’t much daylight left and if they didn’t get Shem down from there soon… There was only one option, Steve knew and he had to take it. “Danno,” he signalled and his young second nodded. He knew what Steve wanted; he had been the one to suggest it after all. Danny stripped off his suit jacket, donned the cumbersome flak vest, which he thought privately was almost useless, and slid the camouflage jacket over the top. Picking up his rifle, he nodded to Steve, hoping he looked confident and not scared.

“There’s a rise about 200 yards to the west of him,” Steve explained, as though Danny hadn’t been the one in the chopper scoping out the lay of the land. “Don’t miss,” he added. “Or he’ll have you dead to rights.” At once, Steve wished he had never said those words, but he couldn’t recall them.

“I know,” Danny replied, as calmly as he could. Steve patted his shoulder and then Danny ran across the road and started to scramble up the hill. Steve signalled to the officers around and they started to lay down fire to give Danny some cover.

It took him several minutes to climb to the rise and then he paused for a second to catch his breath. Getting into position, he lifted the radio and told Steve he was ready. The covering fire stopped and as Danny looked through his scope, he saw movement. Shem was creeping forward. Danny’s finger tightened on the trigger and he fired.

Unbelievably, his shot missed! Shem turned, aimed and fired all in a single movement and Danny felt the thump deep in his shoulder as the round caught him and the next moment, he was tumbling down the hill!

**************************************

Reaching for the walkie-talkie with his left hand, Danny raised it to his lips. “Steve – I missed,” he confessed miserably. 

Down on the highway, Steve felt his heart skip a beat. He knew from the sound of Danny’s voice that his man was hurt. “Hold on, Danno, hold on!” he urged. “We’re coming after you!”

“You’ll be cut to pieces,” Danny objected, but Steve did not reply. Danny winced. He knew that Steve would not hesitate to come for him, but Shem was a good shot and Danny could not have anyone’s death on his conscience. He had to try and take Shem out again.

Getting the rifle was the easy bit, and even that hurt beyond belief. Danny blinked as he forced his leaden right arm to function. He fumbled with the shells and for a moment, he thought he wasn’t going to be able to load the gun. Sweat beaded his forehead as he hauled himself back to his position on the rise. He could barely hold the rifle and resorted to propping it on the ground in front of him. He had only one shot and he could not afford to miss this time. He sighted through the scope.

There! Without conscious thought, he pulled the trigger and through the scope he saw Shem’s arms fly up in the air, his back arching and then the sniper dropped out of sight. Danny slid down the slope once more, unable to catch himself. He winced and reached for the radio. “I got him.” The radio slid from his fingers and Danny made no attempt to stop it. He closed his eyes.

Far sooner than he expected, Danny heard Steve’s voice calling his name. “Danno! Danno!” McGarrett, dishevelled and dusty, leapt up the side of the rise and scrambled to his friend’s side. “How’s it, Danno?” he asked.

“I’ll live,” Danny replied, although he felt dreadful. The throbbing pain in his shoulder was intensifying and he wondered if the bullet had broken his collarbone. Using the arm had not been a good idea.

Quickly assessing Danny, Steve tugged down the zipper on his jacket and unbuttoned Danny’s shirt. He looked at the bullet wound and nodded. “Yeah, I think you will,” he agreed. He snatched up the radio. “Duke? Duke! Get a doctor up here for Danno.” He didn’t wait for an acknowledgment. “I’ll be right back,” he promised and headed over towards the bunker. Danny closed his eyes and waited for rescue to come.

******************************

When Steve returned to Danny’s position a few minutes later, Duke was there, crouching by the wounded man and they appeared to be involved in an argument. “By the time a doctor gets here, I could be at the bottom of the hill,” Danny argued.

“Danno,” Steve started, his face darkening.

“Steve, it’s not as if a doctor can do anything for me here that you can’t,” Danny pointed out. “The slope is too steep for me to be carried down,” he added, “and I can walk.”

“Can you?” Steve fixed his second with a stern look.

“I’m not sliding down there on my backside if I can help it,” sighed the injured man. In truth, he wasn’t sure if he could walk. He was feeling rather peculiar and the pain was coming in waves. He blinked and realised that he had missed some kind of communication between Duke and Steve.

“Danno, did you hit your head?” Steve asked.

“Um… no,” Danny replied uncertainly. He knew that some time had passed between him being shot and radioing Steve, but he had no idea how long. He had thought less than a minute – was it longer? He frowned. His head did ache, but he assumed that was because his right shoulder was an agonising dead weight. Cautiously, he straightened his head. The world was wavering slightly. “Why?”

A slight smile crossed Steve’s face. “We need to know how badly you’re hurt, aikane,” he replied. He unzipped Danny’s camouflage jacket and carefully lifted the injured limb and tucked it inside. Danny couldn’t bite back a cry of pain. The world lost its colour for several moments as he tried to adjust to the new position. “Give me your belt, Duke,” Steve ordered and while Duke supported the injured officer, Steve used the belt to further immobilise Danny’s arm. “Just rest now for a minute,” he ordered, taking Danny’s weight from Duke. Danny’s face was grey with pain. “Duke, get the men back down the hill. Get someone to remove Shem’s body and let’s get the traffic moving again as soon as we can.”

“Right, Steve.” Duke turned away, waving the men out of sight and leaving Steve and Danny with some illusory privacy. They wouldn’t be left entirely alone; there was no way Steve could get Danny down the hillside by himself.

“Shem’s dead?” Danny asked, trying to focus on the case, not on himself. He wasn’t entirely successful.

“Yeah.” Steve thought of the heart made from bullets with the word ‘mom’ inside it. Shem’s mother was a strange woman and Steve wondered how she would react when she saw her son’s body. For the young widow, perhaps this was for the best. She could start her life over again without being shackled to a boy she barely knew who had abandoned her on their honeymoon. “Yeah, he’s dead.”

“I’m sorry… I missed,” Danny mumbled. He replayed the scene in his mind. He knew he had been on target when he squeezed the trigger, but in that scant second between the bullet leaving his gun and reaching Shem, the sniper had moved; stumbled perhaps, or maybe the wind had picked up in intensity for a second. There was no way to know. The pointed fact was that he, Danny, had missed.

Instantly, Steve’s thoughts returned to those words he had said on the road. “Don’t miss, or he’ll have you dead to rights.” Steve could not believe that he had said that. Had he put the idea of missing into Danny’s head? Had those words added extra, unnecessary pressure to an already high-tension situation? “I ill-wished you,” Steve confessed.

“What?” Danny’s eyes opened wide and he snapped his head round to look at McGarrett. It wasn’t a good move and he swallowed hard to keep the nausea at bay.

“When I sent you up here,” Steve explained. “I put the idea of missing into your head. I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t think about it again,” Danny assured him truthfully, but he did wonder as well. Had those words somehow influenced his shot? He blinked, aware that he was feeling slightly light-headed and his thought processes were somehow slightly askew.

Now was not the time for recriminations, Steve knew. “Are you ready to get out of here?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Danny replied, trying to sound healthy. He braced himself for moving, but the pain, despite Steve’s rudimentary first aid, was devastating. Steve’s strong arm kept him on his feet as the world whirled in a nauseating kaleidoscope of colours and smells before finally settling back into place.

“Easy,” Steve soothed quietly. “Take it easy. Take your time.” Time was something they didn’t have a lot of. Darkness was not far away and the chopper could no longer come close to the hill because of the failing light. It was too dangerous. Getting Danny into the chopper would have been extremely difficult at best. Steve was glad that Duke had talked him out of it.

“I’m okay,” Danny lied, panting heavily. He could feel cold sweat trickling down his back.

It was a very slow trek. Danny needed to rest frequently and the unstable footing caused an inordinate amount of jarring to his injured shoulder. After a particularly vicious stumble, Danny threw up, curling up on the ground and groaning in pain. Steve hovered over him anxiously, but there was nothing he could do to help. They simply had to get Danny down to the highway and into the chopper waiting below before it became too dark. 

“Come on, Danno,” he urged, helping the young man to his feet with some assistance from the loyal Duke, who shadowed them every step of the way, his hand always ready to steady McGarrett. Duke knew Steve needed some rest, but would refuse every offer of help. Danny was his man and he had sent him into danger and now he would bring Danny back down safely.

“Don’t think… I can,” Danny breathed. The pain was incredible. “Is the… bullet still in… me?” he gasped.

“As far as I can tell,” Steve replied. There was no blood on the back of the camouflage jacket. There was more than enough to be getting on with on the front. “You’ve got to keep going, Danno. I can’t leave you on the hill all night.”

“All right,” Danny panted. He groaned as he came to his feet once more, aware that he was leaning more and more heavily against the chief of Five-O, but unable to bear his own weight. Dimly, he knew that Duke was there helping Steve, but sweat drizzled into his eyes and raising his hand to wipe it away would use energy that he couldn’t afford to squander. His sight was narrowing down to tunnel vision and he just hoped that he could make it to the bottom without fainting.

Somehow he did, with Steve encouraging him, supporting him, all the way. As they reached the shoulder of the highway, Danny’s knees buckled and he felt hands on his body and legs, lifting him up. The change of position from upright to horizontal was too much for him to bear and he fell willingly into the waiting darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

As the wonderful, pain-free darkness started to lighten, Danny realised vaguely that very little time had passed. His ears were assaulted by the deafening whaup-whaup of the helicopter rotor blades and he could feel every single vibration resonate through his body to the very marrow of his bones, increasing the pain in his shoulder.

He must have moved or made a sound, for gentle hands were at once keeping him still. “Easy, Danno,” Steve soothed. “We’re almost at the hospital.”

Forcing his eyes open, Danny looked into Steve’s concerned face. “Shem?” he asked. He thought he had asked this before, but he was no longer certain.

“He’s dead,” Steve reminded his friend. It was difficult trying to converse over the noise of the rotor blades. He didn’t want Danny straining himself any further; his friend had been through more than enough. “Just rest.”

“Was… anyone else… hurt?” Danny persisted.

“No one,” Steve assured him. He felt the helicopter start to descend and felt a huge sense of relief. Danny had needed medical attention while still on the hill and Steve was afraid that the nightmare journey down had done more damage to the already injured shoulder.

The pilot put the chopper down with a barely discernible bump. At once, medical personnel swarmed towards the craft and Steve slid out of the way to give them access. Danny cried out once as he was move onto the gurney, then they were all hurrying into the hospital.

“Start an IV,” Bergman ordered. “Get these clothes off him. I need a BP stat and put x-ray on standby. Is the OR ready?”

“Yes, doctor,” the nurse replied. She wrapped the BP cuff around Danny’s arm as another nurse efficiently cut through the camouflage jacket, Danny’s blood-stained shirt and unbuckled the flak jacket. “BP is 90/60, doctor,” the nurse reported.

“Open the IV wide and give him a bolus,” Bergman ordered. “Type and cross match three units and have them taken to the OR.” He listened carefully to Danny’s lungs and heart. “Is there an exit wound? No? Okay, let’s get a picture of the shoulder and get this young man to the OR. What’s his BP now?”

“Risen slightly to 95/70,” the nurse reported.

“Well, I suppose it’s going the right way,” Bergman grumbled as the portable x-ray machine entered the room. He took Steve by the arm and led him outside. “I’m taking Danny to the OR now,” he told the chief of Five-O. “The bullet is still in him, as you know, but until I see the x-rays, I don’t know how close it is to the subclavian artery and obviously I don’t want to take any risks; he’s lost enough blood as it is.”

“Will he be all right?” Steve asked. As far as he was concerned, that was the bottom line; forget the mumbo-jumbo of medical jargon.

“I hope so, but I won’t know until I open him up,” Bergman replied. “There are lots of nerves in the shoulder, Steve. They might have been damaged. I just don’t know right now.” He patted Steve’s arm. “I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s the best I can do at the moment.”

The x-ray machine came out and Bergman was immediately issuing orders. Steve leaned over the gurney and touched Danny’s arm. The younger man’s eyes opened and he tried for a smile. “Steve.”

“You’re going to the OR, but I’ll be here when you wake up,” Steve promised. 

“Okay.” Danny’s face was pale and pinched with pain. Steve wished with all his heart he could call back the thoughtless words he’d used before Danny went up the hill. If he hadn’t said them, then perhaps Danny wouldn’t be facing surgery now.

“Ready, Danny?” Doc’s question was rhetorical, but Danny responded sleepily.

“Ready.” He smiled slightly. “See you… later, Steve.” His eyes closed as the gurney started moving. Steve watched them until they were out of sight.

********************************

There were probably plenty of things that he should be doing, Steve reflected, but he had promised Danny that he would be there when his second came out of surgery and Steve wasn’t about to break that promise – not when it was Steve’s fault that Danny needed surgery in the first place. Kono and Chin had taken care of tidying up the crime scene and getting traffic flowing on the highway again. Duke would take care of the HPD reports. Everything else could wait until later or tomorrow. With that decision made, Steve made his way to the surgical ward to visit Tommy Ewa.

Earlier in the day, reports on the injured officer had not been good. He had been reported to be in a coma, but when Steve checked with the nurse, he was given the good news that Tommy was awake and his family were with him. When Steve stuck his head into the room, Tommy found a smile, even though he was clearly weak and drowsy. “How are you, Tommy?” Steve asked.

“Gonna be fine,” Tommy replied. “Did you get him?”

“We got him,” Steve confirmed. “We were worried about you, Tommy. I’m sorry about your partner.”

“Thanks,” Tommy grunted and wiped weakly at his eyes.

“Can I get you anything?” Steve asked. He was aware of how awkward this interview was. Tommy’s family was clearly in awe of the head of the state police and looking at him like he was a being from another planet.

“No, thanks.” Tommy was clearly tired. “It was nice of you to come and see me.”

“I wanted to be sure you were all right,” Steve replied. “There were enough casualties today.”

“Me; Ryder – who else?” Tommy asked and Steve cursed himself.

“Big Paul,” he replied and Tommy winced.

“Is he…?” The question was hopeful, but Tommy’s eyes told Steve he guessed the answer.

“Pau,” Steve replied softly. Big Paul was well known for his big heart, courage and hot head. “Danno was injured taking the sniper out.”

“He gonna be okay?”

“Yes,” Steve replied firmly. No other option was admissible to McGarrett. “He’s in surgery now.”

With a pleasant nod, Steve made his escape, promising to keep abreast of Tommy’s recovery. There was no word yet from the OR. Steve paced restlessly. How long did surgery take? Would they come and tell him if something went wrong – like Tommy Ewa’s adverse reaction to the anaesthesia? He paced some more. Waiting had to be the worst thing in the world. Steve often thought that Purgatory must be a place of endless waiting. Small wonder that people feared it.

“Boss!” 

Turning, Steve saw Chin, Kono and Jenny coming towards him. A glance at the clock showed that the afternoon had escaped him while they were out at Diamondhead and the evening was well advanced. How many hours had they spent at Diamondhead?

“How’s Danny?” Jenny demanded, her usual vivacity dimmed by anxiety.

“In surgery,” Steve replied. He gave Jenny a quick hug and held her against his side. He wouldn’t have admitted under torture how much comfort he got from the contact. “Is everything all right?” he asked his men, knowing that they wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t.

“Yeah, boss,” Kono answered. He looked troubled. “That Shem – he was pupule.”

“He got it from his mama,” Chin added darkly.

“How did she take his death?” Steve asked, knowing that Chin was generally pretty tolerant of people’s foibles, especially when they had been bereaved.

“At first, she refused to believe it was him,” Chin replied. “Accused us of using a double to discredit her son.” Steve winced at the delusion. “Then she couldn’t deny the truth and broke down.” A momentary expression of disgust crossed Chin’s face.

“She shouted that she would make Danny pay for killing her boy,” Kono amplified.

At that, Steve’s head went up. “By name?” he asked.

“No,” soothed the big Hawaiian. “Just that the person who killed her son would pay. She don’t know Danny’s name.”

“Let’s keep it that way,” McGarrett ordered. The whole family seemed to be very peculiar. “What about the widow?”

“She cried,” Kono reported uncomfortably. “Tried to comfort the mother, but the mother wasn’t having it. I think the widow was relieved, but didn’t want to admit it.”

“Where is the mother now?” Steve asked, dismissing the young widow. She seemed harmless enough, but the mother was another matter.

“HPD put her in a hotel until tomorrow, then she’ll get a flight back to Maui.”

“Make sure someone keeps an eye on her,” Steve ordered.

“Will do,” Kono agreed.

There wasn’t much to say then. Steve drew Jenny over to some chairs and sat with her. Both Chin and Kono paid short visits to Tommy Ewa, then they all waited some more. At length, Dr Bergman appeared. He was still in his scrubs. Steve felt a surge of fear at the sight of the doctor’s drawn face. “Doc?”

“Danny’s going to be all right,” Doc assured them. He sat down heavily. “As you can probably guess, the operation wasn’t completely straight forward. “The bullet was lodged in his collarbone and the subclavian artery was trapped beneath it. When we removed it, we had to be careful that neither the bullet nor the broken collarbone lacerated the artery. It took some time, but we got it out okay. Ortho set Danny’s collarbone. As far as we can determine, none of the nerves in his shoulder were damaged, but we’ll know more about that when Danny’s awake tomorrow.”

Just to be sure he’d picked up on the important thing, Steve asked, “But Danno’s going to be okay?”

“Yes, Steve, he’s going to be fine,” Bergman nodded. “I watched him for a bit in the recovery room, after what happened with Tommy Ewa, but he woke up okay for us.”

“Can I see him?”

“Just for a minute you all can,” Doc allowed. “He’ll probably be asleep, so don’t waken him. You can ask him questions tomorrow.”

“This time, I don’t need to,” Steve replied. “We know exactly what happened.” He rose to his feet and Jenny tucked her hand into his arm and they followed Doc to Danny’s room. The detective was sleeping, his face partially obscured by an oxygen mask and his right shoulder and arm were heavily bandaged, the arm strapped protectively across his chest. An IV and a bag of blood were connected to a cannula in his left arm. He was pale, but looked better than he had when he had been brought down the hill. Steve could feel his tension draining away.

None of them lingered. Steve sent everyone home. It had been a long day and there would be plenty for them to do tomorrow. With one last look at his sleeping friend, Steve took himself off home, too.


	3. Chapter 3

It was, of course, the lead story in the papers and on television. The stories were a mixture of criticism and praise. Danny was lauded – by name to McGarrett’s disgust – as the hero of the hour, which was entirely correct. However, both Five-O and HPD were lambasted for allowing the shooting of three cops and the length of time it took to deal with the sniper.

Arriving at the hospital for an early-morning visit to Danny before work, Steve had to endure a barrage of questions and comments from the TV crews that were camped outside the hospital, waiting for word on Danny’s condition and hoping for an interview. Steve was glad that his friend’s post-operative condition meant that visitors were not welcome – apart from him, of course. Steve decided that he would just make sure that nobody else was allowed to see Danny for a while and that the staff were aware of the tricks that the press could get up to when trying to get their own way.

It was still early enough that the staff were distributing breakfast trays. Most of the meals looked bland and uninteresting and Steve was glad that he wasn’t expected to eat it. He pushed open the door of Danny’s room and paused there for a moment to observe his injured detective.

The oxygen mask was gone, as was the bag of blood. For the moment, the IV was still in place, with a small bag of clear fluid joining the bigger bag. Steve guessed that it was probably antibiotics. Danny’s face, while still paler than normal, had more colour in it than the previous evening. And best of all, Danny’s eyes opened to see who had come in. “Danno. How’s it?” he asked, going closer.

“Hi, Steve.” Danny’s voice was quiet. “I’m all right.”

“Really?” Steve didn’t want bravado; he wanted the truth. “I’d have thought you were pretty sore there, aikane.”

A smile flitted across Danny’s face. “The drugs are good,” he admitted.

“Not eating?” Steve asked, looking at the breakfast tray which had oatmeal and orange juice on it.

Making an expressive face, Danny admitted, “I’m not hungry.” Steve was instantly alarmed by the admission. Was something wrong? Why wasn’t Danny hungry? However, Danny had not finished confessing yet. “Not for that muck,” he added. “And there’s no coffee.”

The complaint was enough to make Steve laugh with relief. Danny must be feeling better to be complaining about the food already. He’d only had the surgery the previous evening. “You still need to eat something,” Steve reminded him. “Bodies heal better when they are well nourished.”

“There’s nothing nourishing about eating wallpaper paste,” Danny objected. “I want real food.”

“You’ll get some real food if you eat the wallpaper paste first,” asserted a stern voice from behind Steve and both men blinked in surprise. Steve glanced over his shoulder to give the grumpy coroner a smile which Bergman ignored. “And don’t even think about trying to get out of here today, young man,” he added. “I’m not in the mood for escape attempts.”

“I hadn’t thought about it,” Danny protested. It was true; he hadn’t managed to sit up yet. Leaving was a whole other ball game. In an hour or so, perhaps he would have got round to it, but he recognised that Bergman was not in the mood for teasing and he yielded without too much rancour. He knew he wasn’t up to leaving just yet. Tomorrow, though… He was sure he’d be fine by then.

“Good,” Bergman grunted, not privy to his patient’s thoughts. “How about sitting up? Food generally goes down more easily when you’re upright.”

“All right,” Danny acquiesced and braced himself for the movement of the bed. It was not as bad as he had feared. He felt slightly light-headed for a few moments, but at least he didn’t feel like throwing up. There was nothing that put you off your food like puking.

It was a little awkward feeding himself left-handed, but Danny was naturally well coordinated and he soon had the swing of it. The oatmeal had cooled and was even less appetising than it had been originally, but Danny forced it down and in the end ate about half of it. He thought that was a pretty good showing, even if Steve and Doc didn’t seem to agree with him.

“Well, I’ve got to go to work,” Steve commented. “I’ll see you later, Danno. Oh, Doc, I don’t want him to have any visitors apart from myself, Chin, Kono and Jenny. There are too many unscrupulous reporters hanging around; we don’t want them making a nuisance of themselves in here.”

“No, we don’t,” Bergman agreed emphatically. “Danny, you get some rest and I’ll be back to see you later, after I’ve autopsied our sniper from yesterday.”

Later, Danny thought, he would start pestering Doc to get out of bed. The sooner he was out of bed the sooner he could go home and then he could be back in the office in a couple of days. He was fine; there was no need to fuss. He closed his eyes just for a second and was asleep before Steve managed to exit the room.

*************************************

A statement would have to be given to the press, Steve thought, if only to get them off the steps of the Palace and away from the hospital. He would give it some thought, speak to the Governor and then deliver it in a few hours. There was paperwork to be tidied up, but not as much as there often was when a case was tied up. The episode with Shem had only lasted a few hours and there hadn’t been anything to suggest that the young man was going to commit a major shooting spree. Steve had spoken to Shem’s psychiatrist the previous day and felt that he knew enough about the young man. The family seemed to have some issues, but that didn’t matter anymore. There wasn’t going to be a trial. Shem’s body would be returned to the mother for burial after the autopsy. The autopsy itself was just a formality. They knew how Shem had died; Danny had shot him.

He worked on the press statement, and after speaking with the Governor on the phone, Steve made his way outside the Palace to issue it. He hated these occasions. Inevitably, the press wanted to know more than the police were willing to share. Often, there was one journalist who wanted to make a crusade of the story and angle it so that the police were seen as the bad guys, not the good guys. This was a case where that kind of thing could easily happen. There had been a very strong police presence at Diamondhead the previous day, but it had taken the death of two officers and injury to two others before the sniper had been taken down. Steve knew that his men and HPD would probably get some mud slung at them for not taking the sniper down sooner, not preventing the deaths of the HPD men and for killing the sniper. Some bleeding heart somewhere would insist that the sniper could have been brought down alive and quite probably uninjured. Taking a deep breath, he went out to face the cameras.

“Yesterday afternoon, a sniper opened fire on the highway below Diamondhead,” Steve began. “HPD and Five-O worked together to find a solution to the problem. In the end, the sniper, one William Shem, was killed after he killed two officers and wounded two others. It is unfortunate that this happened. Mr Shem was known to have psychiatric problems but had refused to seek help. Our deepest condolences are offered to his family. Thank you.”

“Mr McGarrett!” The pretty female reporter now hounding him, Michelle Patterson, was well known on the islands as a ruthless barracuda. Once she got her teeth into you, it was difficult to shake her off. “Who brought down the sniper?”

Taking another controlling breath, Steve replied, “A sharpshooter.”

“Sources say the shooter was Officer Dan Williams of Five-O,” she persisted. “Now he’s hospitalised. What happened out there? Did he miss?”

“Detective Williams did take down the sniper, Miss Patterson,” Steve confirmed. “He was shot by Shem and heroically took Shem down after being injured.”

“How badly is he hurt?” asked another journalist, a more reputable one this time.

“The wound is not life-threatening,” Steve replied, glad to be able to say it, “however, he will be out of action for some time.”

“Did he have to shoot to kill?” Patterson persisted. “Couldn’t Williams have just stopped him?”

“Miss Patterson, have you any experience of being pinned down by sniper fire?” Steve asked, fixing her with a ferocious glare. She appeared unmoved. “In a situation like that, the imperative is to save lives and very rarely are second chances given. In these circumstances, sharpshooters take the shot they are able to acquire. If that shot wounds and incapacitates rather than kills, we are glad of it. However, in this case, that was not possible.” He glanced around the waiting journalists. “No more questions.” He turned and walked back up the steps and he could hear his name being called by the persistent Miss Patterson. Steve ignored her.

“She’s a witch,” Jenny said as Steve came back into the outer office. Jenny was standing by the window, watching as most of the journalists packed up their gear and returned to whence they had come. The only one remaining was Michelle Patterson. “What do you bet she makes that Shem out to be some poor misunderstood kid and Danny and you the evil ones, shooting him for no good reason?” She shook her head. “I don’t understand how anyone can believe a single word she says!”

While Jenny’s indignation on his behalf was heart-warming, Steve knew that she was all too likely to be correct in her estimation of Michelle Patterson’s reporting style. He had little doubt that she would manage to track down Shem’s mother and have her sobbing on camera, claiming that nobody tried to talk her son down. Refuting that kind of reporting was pointless. The public were only too willing to believe anything that was said by Patterson simply because she was pretty and sounded sincere.

“I don’t know either,” Steve sighed. “Don’t let it worry you, love.”

“I’ll try not to,” Jenny agreed and went back to her desk. Steve emulated her actions and went back to his.


	4. Chapter 4

Actually getting out of bed that morning had not been the pleasurable excursion that Danny had expected it to be. His head had reeled violently and the few steps from the bed to the chair had been exhausting. He slumped there with a blanket draped over his knees while the nurses changed his bedding and then he was faced with the inevitable trek back to bed. For several craven seconds, Danny contemplated insisting he felt well enough to stay where he was, but when the nurses turned back to help him, he realised that he was getting no choice in the matter. He was going back to bed, like it or not.

It was a relief to sink back onto the mattress. Danny lay there and closed his eyes, hoping to slip back into sleep, but no such relief was afforded to him. The phone which the nurses had just plugged in beside his bed rang and with a sigh, he reached for it, half expecting it to be Steve. “Hello?”

“You killed him!” hissed a hoarse voice. It was difficult to be sure if it was male or female. “You deserve to die for that.” There was a harsh click as the call disconnected.

Stunned, Danny could barely believe that he’d heard the words. He had no doubt as to what the person had been referring to – Shem’s death. The nurses had already been praising him to the heights for his ‘heroic act’ and had told him that he was front page news that day. Who was threatening him?

It wasn’t the first threat Danny had had in the course of his career and he assumed it wouldn’t be the last, but with his dominant arm out of commission, he felt incredibly vulnerable. Was there someone out in the hall standing watch over him? Normally, Danny would balk at such protection, but right at the moment, it seemed like a good thing. What a pity he didn’t know the answer.

Fumbling with the phone, he clumsily dialled the number for Steve’s private line at the Palace. It was answered after only two rings. “McGarrett.”

“Steve…” Danny had to stop to draw a calming breath. His heart felt as though it was beating right out of his chest.

“What’s wrong, Danno?” Steve asked, not liking the breathy sound of his friend’s voice.

The comforting sound of Steve’s voice allowed Danny to centre himself and calm down. “Steve, I just received a threatening phone call,” he reported in a tone that sounded more like his normal tone.

“What?” The anger and indignation carried strongly over the phone line and provided Danny with the sense that he was safe and protected. He knew he was, but at that moment, injured, weak and vulnerable, he needed the reassurance. “What did they say?”

Feeling calmer knowing that Steve would deal with this, Danny reported the words. “I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman,” he concluded. “It shook me up a bit,” he apologised.

“Of course it did,” Steve agreed. “Danno, I’ll be right over. I’m going to get HPD to put a guard on your door while you’re in hospital and route all calls to the nurse’s station. We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he vowed.

“You don’t need to come over,” Danny protested. “I’m fine, Steve. I was just a bit shaken,” he repeated. While seeing his friend would be great, Danny did not want to disrupt the work at the Palace. He knew that with him out, the workload would be increased for the other three detectives.

“I’ll be over shortly,” Steve compromised. He bid Danny goodbye and hung up. Moments later, he was dialling to HPD. “McGarrett here,” he started. “I need a guard put on Dan Williams’s room at the hospital at once. Nobody is to get in to see him apart from authorised medical staff and the Five-O detectives. Now, has Mrs Shem left the island?”

“She should have gone an hour ago, sir,” reported the officer on the other end.

“Should have? Didn’t somebody check to make sure she had gone?” Steve barked. “I ordered that someone kept their eye on her at all times until she left!”

“A unit took her to the airport,” replied the officer nervously. “I haven’t heard back from them, so I assume that she left all right.”

“Thank you.” McGarrett hung up and pressed the intercom. “Jenny, could you phone the airlines and make sure that Mrs Shem got on her flight?”

“Right away, Steve,” Jenny replied. Steve started pacing, waiting impatiently. He was sure that he would learn that Mrs Shem had not caught her flight. Sure enough, within five minutes, Jenny popped her head around the door. “Steve, Mrs Shem didn’t get on the flight.” She looked troubled. “What’s wrong?”

“Danno received a threatening phone call a short time ago,” Steve told her. “Where are Chin and Kono?”

“Trying to find out who sold Shem that gun and ammo,” the secretary reported.

“Get them back here, wikiwiki,” he requested. He picked up the phone once more and dialled HPD. First, he checked that Danny’s guard was in place and then he tore into the hapless duty sergeant for not double checking that Mrs Shem had left the island, then issued an APB for her. He knew that the sergeant would pass the message on to the patrol men that they had better toe the line exactly when doing a chore for Five-O in the future. Then he settled back to wait as patiently as he could for Chin and Kono to return so that he could brief them before going to see Danny.

******************************************

“I should have checked on that wahine myself,” Chin growled.

“You had other things to do,” Steve reminded him, “and HPD shouldn’t need to be told to make sure that she got on the actual plane.” He shook his head in disgust. “What have you got?”

“We found the place where Shem bought the gun and ammo,” Kono reported. “A back-street dive down in the Hotel Street district. Shem gave a false name and the guy didn’t ask for ID. He was doing a special offer on ammo – buy one get one free.” He made a face.

Gun laws were tricky things. The shop owner had stayed within the bounds of the law – just – but that didn’t make it any better. Guns were too easy to buy, especially with people like that, who only asked if the buyer was over 21. Of course, even with tighter gun controls in place, those who wanted to get a gun would manage it somehow.

Guessing the tenor of his boss’s thoughts, Kono added, “I put the fear of God into him, Steve.”

“Good,” Steve nodded. “I’m going over to the hospital and I want you to help look for Mrs Shem. Better check on the widow, too.” He collected nods from both detectives, promised he would pass on their best regards to Danny and then took himself off.

The press pack had gone from the steps of the Palace, but there were still cameras and reporters at the hospital and Steve had to push his way through them as they converged on his car. He issued a brusque ‘no comment’ as he passed and hoped that none of them had yet found out about the phone call to Danny.

Inside, he met with Bergman, who was indignant that Steve was preventing medical staff from doing their job. Steve quickly checked with the guard on Danny’s door and before long, the uniformed man was aware of which members of staff were authorised to go inside and which weren’t. The harried nurses agreed that they would monitor any calls to Danny’s room and note down the callers’ names if their duties permitted, but as Bergman pointed out acerbically, they weren’t secretaries!

Ignoring that comment, Steve and Bergman went into Danny’s room together. Danny had his eyes closed, but they opened readily and Steve could see that the younger man was tense. “How’s it, Danno?” he asked.

“All right,” Danny replied apologetically. “Steve, I’m sorry I bothered you…”

“You were right to bother me,” Steve interrupted. “Mrs Shem did not get on her scheduled flight this morning and she was threatening your life yesterday. We’re looking for her right now. I don’t expect she would do anything, but we’re monitoring your calls and there’s a guard outside the room. I’m sorry I didn’t think of that sooner, Danno.”

“You need to relax, Danny,” Bergman said. He took the injured man’s pulse and then checked his blood pressure. “How’s your pain?” The vital signs were too high for Bergman’s liking, although he thought they were probably better than they had been earlier.

“I can feel it,” Danny admitted reluctantly.

“You need to relax, aikane,” Steve told him. “I won’t let anything happen to you.” He nodded to Bergman, who left the room for a moment to get Danny’s medication. “Can you remember anything else from that call? Any sounds in the background?”

“Nothing,” Danny replied after a moment’s thought. “It was so short.” He met Steve’s eyes. “Do you think it was Shem’s mother?”

“I don’t know for sure, but we’re looking into it,” Steve confirmed. “After what she said out at the incident yesterday, I have to say that she is the prime suspect.” He told Danny what Kono and Chin had told him about Mrs Shem’s reaction to her son’s body.

“Poor woman,” Danny said softly. “It must be hard to realise that your son is a killer.”

“Yeah,” Steve agreed. “But Mrs Shem was a strange one; you thought so, too,” he reminded his detective.

Grimacing, Danny recalled her repellent attitude. He had been particularly offended by her nastiness towards her daughter-in-law. The young woman who had married Shem had certainly got the short end of the deal. “She was weird,” Danny agreed.

“You have to wonder if mental instability ran in that family,” Steve mused. “It would be interesting to know about the father.”

“Are you going to look into that?” Danny asked and Steve was pleased to see he was looking more relaxed now. Bergman came back in with a syringe and injected the contents into Danny’s IV.

“Well, not today,” Steve replied, knowing his friend would soon be sleeping again. By the time he woke up, Steve hoped to have found the person who had made the crank call and then Danny could recover in peace.

He waited until Danny slipped into slumber, then exited the room, making sure once more that the guard on duty knew not to let in anyone unauthorised, and caught up with Bergman at the nurse’s station. “How soon can Danno go home?” he asked.

“I’d like to keep him here another couple of days,” Bergman replied. “The nurses got him up briefly this morning and he was very dizzy. He lost a fair amount of blood yesterday and I would like him to make good some of the deficit before I let him go. I also want to make sure he isn’t going to develop an infection. So far, everything looks fine, but you just never know.” He fixed Steve with a stern glare. “So don’t you go aiding and abetting an escape attempt!” he warned. “I won’t keep him here a day longer than necessary. Do you know what happens to my nurses when Danny is in here? They spend half the day flirting with him!”

Laughing, Steve nodded his agreement. “All right, Doc,” he smiled. “I won’t let him escape until you say so, but the problems with the nurses are entirely yours to deal with!”

“Gee, thanks for nothing,” the coroner grunted as Steve headed for the stairs.


	5. Chapter 5

“Any news, love?” Steve asked as he entered the office.

“Nothing yet,” Jenny replied. She looked anxious. “How’s Danny?”

“He’s all right,” Steve assured her. “Shaken by the phone call, but he’s safe now. Well,” he added, “apart from the nurses who are chasing him.” To his relief, Jenny laughed.

“That’s our boy,” she agreed. Steve carried on into his office.

He knew that Chin and Kono were out chasing down any potential sightings of Mrs Shem, but he felt that he ought to be doing something more. Picking up Shem’s file, he started reading the background notes, hoping to find a clue there as to where the mother might be.

It was pretty turgid stuff and scant on details. Shem’s father had been in the military and one night while home on leave had driven his car off a cliff while drunk. Mrs Shem had claimed he was being bullied which had made him drink and that he was depressed. The army had examined the claims of bullying but had found nothing to substantiate what Mrs Shem was saying. In fact, the findings were more in the other direction – Shem senior had been a bully and few people were sad to see the back of him. The young William Shem had had problems throughout school, made few friends and had little or no academic abilities. He joined up when the draft for Vietnam arrived and that was when he had had the first out of control incidence with a weapon.

There was little in the file that Steve didn’t already know. He was disappointed but not surprised. Sighing, he put it aside and the phone rang as if on cue. It was the Governor. 

“Steve, what’s this about Danny deliberately shooting to kill that sniper yesterday?” Jameson demanded.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir,” Steve responded. “You know that Danno was injured yesterday before he could take down the sniper. He was sent up there to stop Shem from murdering any other innocent people. He had to take the shot that was presented to him. Did I want Shem dead? No. Am I sorry that he died? No. He was holed up in that bunker with enough ammunition to kill a large part of our police force. I can only too well imagine the outcry had we not stopped him when we did.” Steve knew that flack was an inevitable part of his job, but it really annoyed him when the bleeding hearts implied he was a blood-thirsty murderer and it annoyed him even more that this label was now being pinned to Danny’s chest.

“It’s on the news,” Jameson replied. “That Michelle Patterson is as good as saying that no attempt was made to talk Shem down and that Danny was sent up there with orders to shoot to kill.”

“Governor, I thought you knew better than to believe anything that Ms Patterson says,” Steve retorted. “I already had a run-in with her this morning. She said much the same thing to me.”

“Normally, I don’t believe her,” Jameson replied, his tone tight. “However, she says she is going to interview Shem’s mother live on the news and that Mrs Shem was right there and heard you give the order to shoot to kill.”

“So that’s where she is!” Steve snarled. He was beyond furious. He was so angry he felt like he could explode at any moment. He took a deep breath so that he didn’t say the first thing that came into his mind, which was less than complimentary to the Governor. “Sir, Mrs Shem might have been out at Diamond Head yesterday, but she certainly did not hear me order Danno to shoot to kill because that is an order I did not give. She was not standing at the command post for more than a few minutes so was not in a position to hear any orders. She is as mentally unstable, in my opinion, as her son was.”

“Be that as it may, and I’m not doubting your word, Steve, but this woman is out to sully Five-O’s name and reputation.” 

“There is an APB out for Mrs Shem’s arrest at the moment,” Steve replied. “I plan to implement that APB right now.”

“Her arrest?” Jameson gasped. “What for?”

“Danny received a phone call this morning threatening his life,” Steve replied tightly. “We believe it might have been made by Mrs Shem, as she was threatening to kill the person who killed her son yesterday.” He made a disgusted sound. “As you are aware, the newspapers carried details of the hero who shot the sniper.”

“It won’t look good if you arrest her live on camera,” Jameson warned, as though Steve wouldn’t have thought of such a thing.

“I agree,” Steve replied. “I hope we can avoid that. I need to go, sir. Goodbye.” He barely waited for the Governor to reply before he hung up.

Furious beyond belief, he swept out of the office. “Jenny, get hold of Chin and Kono and tell them to get down to the TV station. That Patterson female is going to interview Mrs Shem on TV. Warn them that we don’t want her arrested in front of the cameras if we can possibly avoid it. This whole situation is getting out of control and I don’t want it splashed all over the media!”

“On it, boss,” Jenny replied and reached for the radio.

***************************************

“She’s not in the station, Steve,” Kono reported. “We’ve searched the whole place.” Behind Kono, the station manager looked smug.

“Where is she?” Steve demanded of the man, stepping up close to him.

“Not here,” he replied, not troubling to hide his amusement that they had outwitted the great Hawaii Five-O.

“You do realise that I can arrest you for perverting the course of justice?” Steve hissed quietly, all too aware of the cameras that were recording this confrontation. The station manager paled.

“You can’t do that,” he blustered and Steve raised an eyebrow.

“This is an arrest warrant,” he declared, holding the piece of paper up. “I know my officers showed it to you. Now tell me where Mrs Shem is and perhaps I won’t arrest you. You have 10 seconds.” He met the other man’s eyes. “Nine.” Their gazes locked. “Eight.” The other man swallowed. “Seven.” Steve tucked the warrant into his jacket pocket. “Six.” He smiled slightly. “Five.” He reached for his handcuffs. “Four.”

“They’re at Michelle’s house in Aina Haina,” the manager blurted.

“Address!” Steve snapped and the man stuttered out the address. Without a single word, Steve turned and headed for his car. Chin and Kono hurried to get into their own car and followed Steve towards the residential area.

***********************************

The nap had revived Danny again and he was feeling rather silly for the way he had reacted to the phone call earlier. He ate some of the lunch that was brought to him and then turned on the TV, determined to stay awake for a while longer. He hated sleeping so much and decided that he would try and do without his next lot of pain meds. The sooner he could be back on his feet the better.

It was time for the news and Danny decided that was more likely to keep him awake than some dreadful soap opera. He never watched daytime TV except when he was side-lined from the job. In point of fact, he seldom watched TV at all.

Predictably, the first headline was about the incident the previous day. “A sniper on Diamond Head was killed by a police marksman yesterday afternoon.” The anchor suddenly looked gleeful. “We have an exclusive live interview with the sniper’s mother coming right up.” He glanced towards another camera. “Michelle.”

The picture switched to a rather nice beach scene. Danny instantly recognised it as in the Aina Haina district. Michelle Patterson smiled coyly into the camera and Danny made a face. He couldn’t understand her appeal, pretty girl or not. She was so clearly just out for what she could get for herself. Truth could go hang.

“Thank you, Jeff,” she simpered. “I have with me Mrs Shem, the mother of the sniper from yesterday afternoon, William Shem.” The shot changed slightly to encompass the woman that Danny had met the previous afternoon. “Mrs Shem, let me start by saying how sorry I am for your son’s death.”

“His murder, you mean,” Mrs Shem responded. “He was murdered by the police, by Officer Danny Williams in fact.” Danny winced at the words.

“Your son had a history of mental illness, did he not?” Michelle asked.

“Yes, and he didn’t get any help,” Mrs Shem replied. “My poor boy didn’t know what he was doing and the police made no effort to talk him down from there. They just shot at him and then sent a marksman to kill him.” She burst into tears.

For a moment, Michelle said nothing, simply patting Mrs Shem’s hand and passing her a tissue, trying – and failing, Danny thought – to look compassionate. “Are you sure the marksman was sent to kill your son?” she asked gently.

“Oh yes,” Mrs Shem replied, the tears magically drying. “I heard Steve McGarrett tell that Danny Williams to shoot to kill! He murdered my son! The papers are crying him a hero because he was shot. Well, he was shot because my son was trying to protect himself! Williams deserves every ounce of pain he has! I hope he dies from his wounds! He deserves to suffer, the way my boy suffered!” Mrs Shem was completely out of control. Spittle flew from her lips as she screamed out the words.

In a tone that Danny thought most people would see as calming, but he saw as provocative, Michelle said, “But the police deny those claims, Mrs Shem. Surely McGarrett wouldn’t give that order?”

“I heard him!” Mrs Shem insisted. “Williams was ordered to kill my boy!” She looked directly into the camera. “I hope Williams can live with himself, knowing that he murdered a sick boy!” She glanced back at Michelle. “It may not be very Christian of me, but I hope that Williams suffers for what he did! Prison is too good for him! He deserves to die!”

That appeared to be slightly more than Michelle was prepared for her witness to say. Her eyes opened wide with the first genuine emotion Danny had seen during the interview and she seemed lost for words. However, she swiftly recovered. “Thank you so much speaking to me at this difficult time,” she soothed. “Now back to the studio and Jeff.”

“Thank you, Michelle,” Jeff replied, looking smug. “Now for the rest of the day’s news…”

Danny was no longer listening. He switched the set off without being aware that he had done it. He had just been publicly accused of murder by the mother of the man he had shot and killed the previous day. While Danny knew he had been acting within the law, it was extremely unpleasant. He knew there would be a huge backlash from this. The other news outlets would pick up on it and his reputation would be dragged through the mud. How was it that Michelle Patterson had managed to make the mad William Shem out to be a poor victim? Mixing lies and truth always made things more difficult for those who sought only the truth, but it worked very well for Ms Patterson.

The door to his hospital room opened and Bergman came in. Danny knew at once that the doctor had seen the broadcast. “Don’t say it, Doc,” he pleaded. “I’m fine. I need to get out of here.” He threw the covers back and sat up, wincing at the pain, but Bergman had anticipated the move.

“You’re going nowhere!” he declared firmly. “You were shot and required surgery yesterday afternoon,” he reminded the young man. “You lost a lot of blood and you’re staying here until I decide you’re well enough to go home. I’ll sedate the daylights out of you if you try to resist.”

“Then that’s what you’ll have to do!” Danny retorted. “I can’t stay, Doc. My reputation is worth nothing thanks to that woman. I have to give my side of the story to the media now, to try and refute her allegations.”

“No. I mean it, Danny. You’re staying here, like it or not. If I have to get Steve here to make it an order, you won’t like that any better! Sedation and restraint is only the start of what I can do to keep you here.” Bergman knew how upset Danny must be – he felt upset himself and he wasn’t the one being accused of murder. “Don’t even think of signing yourself out AMA, either.” He pushed a bit harder against Danny’s good shoulder.

“The only way I’m staying here is if you get me committed!” Danny shouted.

“That could be arranged!” Bergman shouted back. Before the situation could deteriorate any further, he pulled a syringe from his lab coat pocket and shot the contents into Danny’s IV. The outraged detective let out a bellow of objection and started to struggle against the doctor, but in vain. Within a few moments, the drug was coursing through his bloodstream and he felt his wits sliding away. As Bergman situated him properly in the bed once more, Danny made one more abortive attempt to get up, but his head wouldn’t lift off the pillow. As he slid into drugged slumber, he was vaguely aware of a hand grasping his wrist.


	6. Chapter 6

“Make sure that camera is off,” Steve told Kono as the three detectives exited the car. He strode across the beach to where Michelle was standing with Mrs Shem. Michelle looked insufferably smug, Steve thought.

“Why, Mr McGarrett!” Michelle gushed. “I’m afraid that you’ve missed my live interview.” She couldn’t quite swallow a giggle. “Mrs Shem was wonderful.”

Ignoring the reporter, Steve concentrated on the woman standing beside her. “Mrs Shem, I am here to take you in for questioning.” He was vaguely aware of Kono arguing with the cameraman.

“I’m going nowhere with you!” the woman replied. “You gave the order to murder my son! You’re as guilty as that Williams!”

Glancing at the camera, Steve saw that the camera man was now fending Kono off with the help of the sound engineer and the camera still seemed to be running. “I have a warrant,” Steve said quietly. He hoped this wasn’t going out live.

“A warrant?” Mrs Shem shrieked. “Like the one you got yesterday that made me come here to see my son shot? Well, let me tell you, Mr High and Mighty Murderer McGarrett, I’m not going anywhere with you, warrant or not!”

“I’m afraid you have no choice,” Steve told her, still trying to keep this altercation as civil as he could. He reached to put a persuading hand on her elbow.

With a snarl, Mrs Shem leapt at Steve, spitting snarling and swearing incoherently. Steve, taken aback, did not move fast enough to defend himself and felt a sharp pain as her nails raked down his cheek. He managed to catch her wrist to stop her scratching the other cheek and Chin moved in to assist.

It wasn’t easy to stop the crazed woman without hurting her. She seemed to have more limbs than an octopus had tentacles and she punched, kicked and spat at the detectives. Kono left the cameraman to his own devices to assist Chin and they finally managed to subdue her.

“You bleeding, boss,” Kono observed as Chin clicked the cuffs into place around Mrs Shem’s wrists.

“Yeah, she got me good,” Steve admitted, finding his handkerchief and gingerly putting it against his bleeding, stinging face. He glanced at Michelle Patterson, who had backed away as Mrs Shem went mad. She had not managed to escape the spittle and a large gob was soaking into the front of her pink frock. Chin courteously handed over his handkerchief. “Satisfied, Ms Patterson?” Steve asked.

“She’s mad!” Michelle exclaimed. She looked shaken rigid, her professional mask long gone.

“I trust you will be showing this portion of film on your next bulletin,” Steve suggested. “Along with a retraction of the earlier claims that Mrs Shem made.”

“What are you going to do with her?” Michelle asked, rallying slightly. “Put her under arrest?”

Taking a deep breath to control his temper, Steve replied, “Mrs Shem will be taken to a place of safety and her mental status evaluated.” If Steve had his way, she would be locked in the state psychiatric hospital for the rest of her life. “I am sure you can see she is not fully in control of herself at this time and doesn’t know what she is saying. It would be foolish to take anything she said as something she really means.”

There was a veiled threat in there and Michelle was bright enough to pick up on it. “Of course,” she agreed.

By now, Chin and Kono had managed to get Mrs Shem into the car and she had calmed down a little. Chine slid in beside her and Kono took the driver’s seat. As another trickle of blood oozed down his ravaged cheek, Steve could see the sense of that move.

The camera man was putting away the camera and the sound man was coiling cables. “Ms Patterson,” Steve said. “A word of advice. This time, you are lucky that Mrs Shem does not appear to be responsible for what she said, but in other circumstances you could find yourself being charged as an accessory to a crime.” He smiled slightly. “I don’t think you’d find prison all that pleasant.” He glanced at the idyllic panorama and saw her eyes widen as his meaning sank in. “Good day, Ms Patterson.” 

Holding his handkerchief to his still stubbornly oozing cheek, Steve took his leave.

*******************************

“Well, it doesn’t need stitches,” Bergman decided, peering closely at the shallow gouges on Steve’s cheek. “You won’t be able to shave for a few days, but I don’t expect it’ll leave a mark. This will sting,” he added, and wiped Steve’s cheek with antiseptic.

“Ouch!” Steve exclaimed, caught by surprise despite the warning.

“You have to have a word with Danny,” Bergman continued conversationally.

“Danno? Why?” Steve responded sharply.

“He saw the news earlier,” the coroner replied. “Wanted to leave, of course! I threatened to restrain and sedate him.”

“You haven’t restrained him – have you?” Steve asked, wincing at the notion.

“Of course I haven’t!” Bergman retorted indignantly. “What do you take me for? A tyrant? I leave that part to you,” he teased. “He was really upset by that broadcast.”

“He wasn’t alone,” Steve growled. “I’ll go up and talk to him right now.”

“Oh, there’s no point in going now” replied the older man airily. “I gave him enough sedation to knock out an elephant. He’ll sleep for hours yet.”

Not unlike Mrs Shem, Steve thought. The distraught woman had resumed her ranting and the ER doctor had sedated her at once and Steve had had a restraining order put in place until her psychiatric needs could be assessed. She was currently in the psych ward upstairs. “Well when is he likely to wake up?” Steve asked.

“Early evening would be my guess,” Bergman answered, carefully placing a square bandage on Steve’s cheek. “Shall I ask the staff to call you?”

“Thank you,” Steve agreed, knowing that was the best he could hope for.


	7. Chapter 7

Back at the Palace, Steve was gratified to be told that Michelle Patterson had been on the news to show the footage of Mrs Shem attacking Steve. She had informed the viewers that Mrs Shem’s earlier accusations should not be taken seriously. Michelle admitted that she had been taken in by her pity for Mrs Shem and the distraught mother had taken advantage of Michelle’s soft heart to spread lies about Danny Williams.

“Soft heart indeed!” scoffed Jenny as she finished relating this to the detectives. “As soft as Diamond Head!”

“Bet everyone believes her,” Kono mused.

“How did I know she would come out of this smelling of roses?” Steve asked rhetorically. He shook his head. “They say cats always land on their feet. Let’s just hope that Ms Patterson has learned a lesson here.” He collected nods from the others, but it was clear they didn’t think it was very likely either. He pushed the reporter from his thoughts. “Did anyone check on the younger Mrs Shem?” he asked.

“Yeah, boss, she was at her work,” Chin replied.

“Good,” Steve nodded. “I can take the security off Danny’s door once I’ve spoken to him.” He glanced at his watch and saw that he still had a few hours before Danny was likely to awaken. “I’m sure we’ve all got work to do,” he hinted and the others scattered as he went into his office.

*****************************************

Visiting hours would be coming to an end soon, but that didn’t bother Steve. He would stay until he was satisfied that Danny was not going to do anything stupid, like leave the hospital against Bergman’s wishes. While Steve wanted his detective back, he knew that Danny was not yet ready to leave the hospital, no matter what he thought. The word on the coconut wireless was that Danny was now the object of sympathy again in the media and just for a change, Steve was also a sympathetic figure, thanks to the attack on him and the way he had handled Mrs Shem.

Many small movements indicated to Steve that Danny was on the way to wakening up. He was completely unprepared for Danny’s eyes to suddenly pop open and the younger man sit up abruptly. “Ugh!” Danny groaned as the movement sent sharp spears of pain lancing through his shoulder.

“Easy, Danno, easy,” Steve soothed. He helped the disoriented man lie back, offering some water to help Danny come to full consciousness. “How’re you feeling, aikane?” he asked.

“Hung over,” Danny complained hoarsely. He blinked sleepily and glanced around and his memory returned with a rush. He sat up again. “Steve, I’ve got to get out of here! Mrs Shem…”

“Is upstairs under sedation right now,” Steve interrupted. “Relax, Danno. Your reputation is safe.”

“Safe?” Danny allowed himself to be pushed gently down onto the pillows. His shoulder was really not ready for the abrupt movements he had made. “But how? That Michelle Patterson…”

“Just listen,” Steve urged. He explained to Danny all that had happened while his second in command had been slumbering the day away. Danny was chagrined at his rash attempt to get out of hospital earlier, but he still felt he had needed to do something.

“So the public don’t think I’m a murderer anymore?” he clarified.

“No. Well, some might, but there are always some who see us in a bad light,” Steve reminded him. “What did you think you could do?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Danny admitted. “But first the phone call and then the media…” He started to shrug and then remembered that was unwise. “I had to do something.” He laid his head back on the pillow. While he would never admit it, holding his head up was still a painful procedure. “So Mrs Shem made the phone call?”

It was only at that moment that Steve realised he didn’t know the answer to that question. “I think so,” he hedged, but that one wasn’t going to fly. Danny, hung over though he might be, was still one of the sharpest people Steve knew.

“You think so?” Despite himself, Danny felt a twinge of fear.

“She wasn’t exactly in a fit condition to be questioned,” Steve reminded his second. “If the doc says I can, I’ll question her tomorrow morning. But who else could it be?”

“I agree she’s the most likely suspect,” Danny allowed slowly. “I don’t suppose it was the mousey wife?”

“She was at work at the time,” Steve replied. “I would guess that for her, this is not a new tragedy. The tragedy happened when he walked out on her on the first day of their honeymoon.”

“I suppose,” Danny agreed. “I wonder why she didn’t get the marriage annulled.”

“She loves him,” Steve replied. “She’s young and lonely and vulnerable and he might have seemed like the answer to her prayers. He was good looking and seems to have been personable enough when he wasn’t shooting everyone in sight.” Steve sighed. “I suspect she hoped he would come back to her in time.”

“That’s a sad story,” Danny commented. He was sorry for the young woman. She had barely seemed old enough to be married. 

“So, have I convinced you to do as Doc says?” Steve asked after a moment, his eyes twinkling.

“I guess so,” Danny sighed. “He plays mean, though.”

“Can’t argue with his methods, though,” Steve laughed.

“He threatened to restrain me!” Danny complained.

“If you really resist, he might put you in the next room to Mrs Shem,” teased Steve. “You’d like that.”

“Is your face all right?” Danny asked. “Did you need stitches?”

“No, no stitches and it’ll be fine.” Steve didn’t mention that his face felt stiff. He would remove the protective bandage that night and let the air get at it. He was convinced it would heal just as quickly that way and if it looked unsightly – well, the bandage was hardly high fashion. “I’m going to let you rest now, Danno,” he said, rising. 

“I’ve been resting all day,” Danny complained, but there was an undercurrent of humour in his voice. “I’m starved though. Could you ask the nurse to get me some food? Or – better yet – get some Chinese sent in?”

“Here’s your dinner, Mr Williams,” the nurse chirped, entering the room just at that moment.

“Thanks,” Danny replied, looking at the unidentifiable food on the plate. He was glad it was already cut into small pieces, because cutting anything was beyond his capabilities at that moment. “Um – what is it?” he enquired as Steve smirked.

“Healthy,” the nurse answered and left him to it.

“There you have it, Danno,” Steve commented. “It’s healthy. That’s better than Chinese any day.” He made a swift exit before any of Danny’s food could head in his direction.


	8. Chapter 8

It was a tiring day for Danny, as news that visiting restrictions had been removed had flown through HPD and there was a constant stream of on and off duty officers popping in to say hello. To prove to Bergman that he was up to going home, Danny badgered a couple of nurses into taking him for short walks around the hospital corridors and even briefly outside. The fresh air felt great, but each time it also pointed up how weak he still was. He tired very easily and could cheerfully have taken an afternoon nap, except he kept getting more visitors. By the time Bergman appeared in the early evening, Danny was drooping.

The coroner took his time reading Danny’s notes, noticing how much he had eaten that day, how his vitals had been and how much pain medication he had received. In Bergman’s personal opinion, Danny hadn’t had enough for the pain, but his vitals were all right and although he looked tired, he still had good colour. Bergman knew that Danny – like Steve – couldn’t bear being cooped up in a hospital room for any length of time.

“Well?” Danny’s impatience was getting the better of him.

“Well what?” Bergman asked, knowing full well that his answer would infuriate the detective.

“Doc! Can I go home tomorrow?” Danny turned pleading eyes on the crusty medic. “Please?” he added hopefully.

“Well, since you ask so nicely, all right,” Bergman agreed. “We might get more work out of the nurses without you here.”

“Hey, I’ve hardly bothered them at all,” Danny protested. He did not mention that at least three different nurses had given him their phone number. “I’ve been a model patient.”

“After I sedated the daylights out of you,” Bergman reminded dryly. “And then sent in the big guns.”

Rolling his eyes, Danny had to laugh. “You cheated,” he accused the doctor.

“Whatever works, Daniel,” Bergman responded. “Whatever works. Tell Steve he can come and get you in the morning, but you are not to go into the office for at least a week. I want to see you again before I approve you going back for any length of time at all, understand?”

“I understand,” Danny agreed. He was glad Bergman had not made him promise, because he was pretty sure that was a promise he would be unable to keep. He knew he would get bored pretty quickly on sick leave, because he was unable to swim, surf or jog. Sitting in the sun watching the bikinis go by was pleasant on a day off, but as a way to fill a week or more, even Danny could see it would lose its appeal in a remarkably short time.

Wise to the ways of the Five-O detectives, Bergman didn’t push the issue. He knew full well that Danny was likely to start haunting the offices at the Palace as soon as he could make his way there without too much discomfort. That was the nature of the beast and as long as Danny didn’t exert himself too much, Bergman would pretend that he didn’t know what was going on. It was a system that worked pretty well, all things considered. 

However, there was one thing that had had Bergman thinking since Danny had been brought in the other day. “Danny, you’re right handed, aren’t you?” he asked.

“You know I am,” Danny replied. While not exactly clumsy using his left hand, he was obviously nowhere near as dextrous with it. “Why?”

“Then how in the hell did Shem manage to shoot you in the right shoulder?” the coroner enquired. “The butt of your gun should have taken the round instead.”

“I don’t know,” Danny admitted. It hadn’t occurred to him to think about that at all. He was too busy dealing with the pain for that to have been any kind of a consideration for him. “Maybe it ricocheted off something when I lowered the stock,” he suggested.

“Maybe,” Bergman agreed. “Or I have another theory.”

“Oh?” Bergman was the coroner after all and he could often come up with a theory about a dead body that sent the detectives in another direction to solve the case.

“Have you seen your rifle since the shooting?”

“Of course not,” Danny replied. “I’ve been in here.” In point of fact, he had no idea what had happened to his rifle and hoped that someone had taken it down the hill for him. He hated to think of it lying up there, exposed to the elements. “I don’t know where it is,” he confessed. “Why?”

“I think what might have happened is that the bullet glanced off the stock of your rifle and that is how it ended up breaking your collarbone and trapping the subclavian artery.” Doc raised an eyebrow as Danny’s brows scrunched together in thought. “Didn’t you say the bullet knocked you over?”

“It would anyway,” Danny replied, still thinking.

“Yes, but Steve said that you were unresponsive on the radio for a period of time – longer than he thought you should have been. He thought you’d hit your head, but as you know there were no lumps or bumps to be found, just a couple of minor scrapes. I think the bullet hit you hard and knocked the wind out of you and combined with your fall, you were unable to breathe properly. Getting the wind knocked out of you is bad enough without getting shot, too.” Bergman shrugged. “It’s a thought,” he offered. “It doesn’t really matter; I was just curious.”

“When I find out where my rifle is, I’ll be able to solve part of that mystery,” Danny agreed.

As Bergman left, he lifted the phone to call Steve and ask for a lift home the next day.

****************************************

The nurses had helped him dress the next morning, but Danny suspected that dressing alone would take him quite a long time. He was tired when they arrived back at his apartment and quite glad to sit down while Steve stowed away the groceries he had picked up on the way to the hospital. He bid Danny rest, and promised to bring the detective’s rifle over that evening when he popped round with some food or to do some cooking for the injured man.

After an impromptu nap, Danny rose and looked out of the windows. It was another glorious day in paradise and he thought it would be nice to stroll gently along the sand for a short time and feel the wind in his hair. He was just glancing around for some flipflops that would easily be slipped on and off when the doorbell rang. Cautiously, he went over and called, “Who’s there?”

“Delivery,” came the response in a feminine voice, and Danny carefully opened the door.

A young woman stood there with a huge bouquet of flowers in her arms. They were huge lilies and the sickening scent hung heavily in the air. “Here ya go, sir,” the girl said, depositing her burden on the table by the door and giving him a broad smile, she left.

If there was one flower Danny hated, it was the lily. He looked for the card, wondering who on earth would be sending him flowers. The card was hand-written in block capitals. Danny dropped it and backed away, shaken to the marrow.

It read ITS YOUR FUNERAL.


	9. Chapter 9

This time, he was determined to act like a detective, not a scared rabbit. He left the card where it had fallen and called for a lab team. He doubted if there would be any prints on the card apart from his, but he knew he had to make sure. Then he made the phone call he really didn’t want to make, but had to.

“McGarrett.” Steve’s voice had the clipped quality that Danny associated with Steve’s attention being on something else.

“Steve, it’s me,” he said.

“Danno?” 

“Steve, I just received some flowers,” Danny went on. “Um – I don’t think Mrs Shem was behind the threatening phone call.”

“Are you all right?” Steve demanded. 

“I’m fine,” Danny assured him. “It was the card that carried the message this time.” He was aware that this conversation was disjointed, but he was trying to be dispassionate about this, despite the erratic hammering of his heart, his shaking hand and the urge he had to throw up.

“Danno…” Steve said, but Danny had to get this out before he fell apart and started acting like a victim.

“The card reads ‘it’s your funeral’.” He swallowed. “The bouquet is of lilies.”

“Sit down, Danno,” Steve ordered. “If you aren’t already sitting, then sit down!” Steve himself was on his feet, alarm coursing through his veins. “I’ll call for the lab team…”

“I already did that,” Danny assured him. There was a pause. “I’m sitting down now,” he concluded. From the way his knees had been trembling, Danny thought it was probably just as well that Steve had told him to sit. Falling down would not be pleasant.

“I’ll be right there!” Steve promised. “Don’t let anyone in!” The phone crashed down.

As he hung up his phone more carefully, Danny glanced ruefully at his still-open front door. Anyone could have walked in on him. He really had to do better than this. He was not a victim; he was a cop and he had to start thinking like a cop. He vowed there and then to take no more pain pills, regardless of how sore his shoulder was. He needed all his wits about him until this crazy person was caught.

There was only one snag – they didn’t know who they were looking for.

****************************

By the time Steve arrived, Danny had called the flower shop and asked who had paid for the flowers. They had been paid for by cash and no name had been given. It had been busy that day and the owner of the shop was not entirely sure who had paid for them – there had been a young man and a young woman in about the same time but he couldn’t recall who had bought what. Any further investigation would have to be done in person, perhaps with photos to aid recall or a police sketch artist to make a drawing.

Steve arrived about the same time as the lab team. He studied the note for several moments before handing it over to the lab team for closer examination. He took in the flowers before turning to Danny, who was resting on the couch. “Are you all right?” Steve asked.

“Yes, I’m okay,” Danny replied. “The note just shook me up a bit.”

“It’s allowed to do that,” Steve told him. “We thought that Mrs Shem had made the phone call; it would seem from this that perhaps she was innocent in that respect. However, we can’t rule her out altogether. We need to question the person who sent the flowers.”

“They were ordered today,” Danny told him. “This morning about an hour or so after I was released from hospital.” He glanced at his boss. “Just after the next main news was broadcast, showing me leaving the hospital.” To both Steve and Danny’s mutual disgust, the TV station that Michelle Patterson worked for had still had a camera in situ at the hospital, waiting for Danny to be released and it had been broadcast as part of the regular news bulletin, along with a recap of the previous events. Jenny had told Steve all about it. Steve had wondered how his secretary knew, but Jenny never revealed her sources.

“In some ways, that doesn’t narrow things down, does it?” Steve commented wryly. “A good chunk of the population of Oahu saw you leaving hospital.” He sat down. “Still, a good chunk of the population have no motivation to do you harm.”

“Well, we hope not at any rate,” Danny agreed. He was feeling calmer now. This was familiar territory; he and Steve verbally working the case, putting up theories and feeling their way through them. All that was missing were Chin and Kono and they arrived shortly after, concerned for their friend, and relieved to find that he was all right.

“I’ll take the flowers with me, too,” Che Fong told Steve as the lab team packed away their gear. There hadn’t been much for them to find.

“Thanks, Che,” Steve replied. The heady scent lingered in the still air of the apartment and Kono moved to throw open the lanai doors and let in some air. Steve closed the door behind the lab team and returned to where Danny was still sitting. “We’ll get some protection down here for you right away,” Steve told his detective. “Don’t go anywhere without them. We’ll catch whoever this is, Danno, don’t worry.”

“All right, Steve,” Danny agreed.

“Chin, I want you to go over to the flower shop and question the owner again. See if you can get a description of the man and woman he served,” Steve ordered. “Kono, I want you to go and talk to young Mrs Shem again. See if she has an alibi for this.” He gave the big Hawaiian a hard look. “I want to be sure that her alibis are indisputable. I want eye witnesses for her at each of the times Danno has received a threat.”

“Sure thing, boss,” Kono agreed. He patted Danny gently on his uninjured shoulder. “See ya later, bruddah.”

“Take care, Danny,” Chin advised and the two of them left on their errands.

For a few moments, Danny watched Steve restlessly pace the length of the small living room. “Steve, this isn’t your fault,” he offered at last. “We thought it was Mrs Shem. She seemed the logical suspect. She had threatened to kill me.”

“I shouldn’t have taken the logic at face value,” Steve replied. “I should have looked more closely. I’m sorry, Danno. I placed you in danger quite unwittingly and it shouldn’t have happened.”

“But I’m fine,” Danny responded. “Nothing happened and you’ve moved to stop anything happening. Steve, you’re only human and I’m fine.”

The pacing stopped and after a moment, Steve sat down beside Danny. He placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I know,” he agreed, softening. “I promise I’ll do better to keep you safe, aikane.”

“I know you will,” Danny agreed.

**************************************

It didn’t take long for a guard to arrive from HPD and Steve stayed with Danny until the man was in place. Danny went to lie down on his bed for a while after Steve left and ended up taking a nap. When he woke, he felt better, but cooped up. He remembered his desire to walk on the beach and found appropriate shoes, collected his guard and they set off.

One of the advantages of his home was that the beach was just across the road. The HPD officer was not keen on Danny exposing himself to danger, but since Danny was technically his superior officer, he didn’t put up much resistance. He was, however, a very tense shadow, sticking as close as he could without actually wading in the ocean.

Even that short excursion was tiring for the recovering detective, but he felt he had blown the cobwebs out of his brain. The pain medication had worn off and his shoulder was throbbing, but Danny felt more like himself. He was ready to help Steve think through this case to find whoever was threatening him. While it felt good to know there was someone else looking out for him, it was also good to realise that he was now thinking clearly and was able to take on some responsibility for his own safety again.

He was beginning to feel hungry, but Steve had said he would be over and would cook for them both, so Danny contented himself with some fruit to tide him over and turned on the TV. There was nothing on that grabbed his attention and so he took a book and went to sit on the lanai.

There were advantages to being a couple of floors up in an apartment building and one of them was the view. The other was the fact that access, despite the lanais, was harder for crazed criminals. Most were not willing to climb up a building to kill someone. Rappelling down from the roof was another option, but somehow Danny didn’t think that was likely in this case. So far, all he had had were threats and while he didn’t take them lightly by any means, he was beginning to wonder if that was all this person intended to do. Still, he had to pay attention to his own safety until this nut was caught.

The book was not holding his attention either he realised and put it aside. This was why he hated sick leave, he reflected. He wanted to be out doing things, but he wasn’t fit to do that and he couldn’t concentrate on reading or watching TV. He led an active lifestyle and sitting around was not high on his agenda. Wandering back inside, he decided that he would put some clothes on to wash and then perhaps he would feel able to just sit down.

He had just switched the machine on when the building’s fire alarm started blaring. In all the time Danny had lived there, it had never gone off before, apart from the regular tests. This was not a test, he guessed, as it did not go off after just a couple of seconds. Slipping on shoes, he headed for the door. The HPD officer was nowhere in sight.

For a moment, Danny paused, but the alarm was shrieking and he knew he had to get out. It was probably a false alarm, but you never knew. He hurried down the stairs, meeting a few of his neighbours. Most of them were still out at work at this time of the day.

There was no sign of the HPD officer outside the building either. Danny was worried now; had something happened to him? He headed over to the fire safety point and glanced around. People were converging on the building, drawn by the pulsating alarm. Danny knew he had to stay alert and stay with the people from his building, but he was concerned about where his guard had gone. Was the man all right? Was he inside, making sure the building was cleared? Distantly, Danny could hear the sirens as the fire department drew closer.

Something round and hard suddenly poked into his back, just under his right arm. “Don’t move, don’t do anything stupid and don’t shout for help,” advised a male voice. Danny glanced over his shoulder, seeing a strange man standing there. The object against his back was clearly a gun. “I’ll shoot randomly if you try anything,” the man went on. “Now, nice and calmly, come this way.” He tugged on the sling and Danny winced. He had no option. The crowd of people gathering around the building was growing and it was all too likely that random shooting would kill and seriously injure quite a few of them. Danny had no idea what kind of gun the man was holding, but he couldn’t take that chance.

He turned and walked quietly away.


	10. Chapter 10

“Where are you taking me?” Danny asked. He was glad that his voice sounded steady.

“You’ll find out,” the man replied. He maintained a grip on Danny’s right elbow, while keeping the gun drilling into his ribs with his left hand. The sling and the man’s hand provided great cover for the gun, but nobody was looking at two casually dressed men; they were all concentrating on the possibility of a fire.

“Who are you?” Danny asked.

“That doesn’t matter,” the other answered. “You’re not going to live long enough to worry about who I am.” He laughed as though genuinely amused. “Keep walking and less chatter, detective.”

So, his kidnapper had the right person. Danny had hoped that perhaps there was some kind of mistake, but that one word –‘detective’ – dashed those hopes. “Did you kill my guard?” he asked.

“Nope, although I would have,” the kidnapper replied. “But he left. Guess his shift was over and nobody came to replace him.”

The welter of emotions that hit Danny at that news was hard to decipher, but he realised that he was angry the man had just gone away without checking that there was someone else coming to relieve him, but also relieved that there wasn’t a death on his conscience. He also rather pitied the hapless officer when Steve McGarrett found out what he had done.

They walked a short distance down the street, then turned off into a side street. The man stopped beside a large white car and opened the rear door. “Get in,” he ordered and pushed the detective inside, sliding in after him, the gun unerringly pointed in Danny’s direction the whole time.

There was a young woman sitting behind the wheel. She turned and looked over her shoulder and with a sinking heart, Danny recognised the young Mrs Shem. She gave him a look of deep hatred. “You killed my Bill,” she accused him.

There was nothing he could say in his defence, Danny realised. He had killed ‘her Bill’, but she knew what her husband had been doing and it was obvious that she took his part.

“You got me now, darling,” the man with Danny reminded her.

She gave him a smile that chilled Danny to the very marrow of his bones. “So I do,” she cooed. “Here’s the duct tape, darling.” She handed over a roll of the silvery tape and then pointed a gun at Danny as the man took it. “Please move, Detective Williams,” she begged. “I want to shoot you. I want you to suffer, the way I have suffered.”

This was madness of a different kind to the senior Mrs Shem. Danny sat absolutely still as his mouth was sealed with the tape and a strip was placed over his eyes. The sling was pushed back up his arm and his hands were taped together across his chest. It hurt. It hurt really badly, but given the alternative, Danny could live with that. 

He only hoped that he would get a chance to live with that.

*************************************************

It was Duke Lukela who alerted Steve that the fire department had been called to Danny’s building, which had been evacuated. Steve immediately left the office, gunning his Mercury towards Danny’s home. It was also Duke who told Steve that there was no sign of the guard officer and that Danny himself was missing.

“How do you know he’s missing?” Steve asked as he threw himself from the car.

“He was standing here with the rest of the residents,” Duke explained, pointing to the knot of people nearby. “A couple of them saw him come out and then he just vanished.”

“Where is his guard?” Steve growled and Duke was glad that the man was not anywhere nearby.

“His shift was over and the new guard hadn’t arrived.” Duke wanted to rip the guard’s head off as well. “He didn’t wait for the new man. There was a lapse between them of perhaps five minutes, but that was all it needed.”

“Did anyone see anything?” Steve was frantic with worry.

“That lady over there saw Danny going off with another man,” Duke replied, indicating the woman. “I have men questioning everyone on the street.”

“Thanks, Duke.” Steve drew in a calming breath. He didn’t want to frighten the witness. This woman might hold Danny’s life in her hands. “I’m Steve McGarrett,” he introduced himself unnecessarily. “I understand you saw Dan Williams leaving with another man. Can you describe him?”

“Oh sure,” the woman replied. She gave Steve a coquettish look. “He was tall, nearly your height, blond hair, well built. Muscles on his muscles, if you know what I mean.”

“What was he wearing?” Steve asked. He was revolted by the woman’s attempts to flirt with him at a time like this.

“Oh, shorts, flipflops, a sleeveless t-shirt that was sort of hanging off his shoulders.” Again the flirty smile. “He looked real nice.”

“How long was his hair?” Steve enquired, because this man was beginning to sound rather familiar.

“Oh, collar length. Not too long, but I guess touching his shoulders at the back. He looked like he came from California, if you know what I mean.”

“Thank you. This officer here will take your name. We might need to contact you later regarding this.” Steve gestured to the patrolman Duke had sent over and the man moved in efficiently to take the woman’s particulars.

“I need Chin and Kono here,” Steve growled at Duke. 

“They’re on the way,” Duke replied.

“Sergeant Lukela!” A patrolman was waving at him from further down the block. Steve and Duke exchanged a glance and hurried to his position. A scruffy man was leaning against the wall looking around him anxiously. “This man saw Detective Williams getting into a car along this road.”

“What kind of car was it?” Steve asked and saw at once from the man’s face that no answer would be forthcoming without some kind of money being involved. His mouth tightened in disgust, but he took out his wallet, seeing the man’s eyes light up. Steve withdrew a bill.

“Big, white,” the man replied. “Four doors. Some chick was driving it.” He reached for the money.

Pulling his hand back, Steve took another bill from his wallet. “Registration?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” the man hesitated. “1 B 11…” He paused. “I can’t remember the rest.” He looked longingly at the money in Steve’s hand.

That partial plate rang bells in Steve’s mind. He had heard it recently… He glanced at Duke, who also looked thoughtful. “That plate…”

“Shem’s car!” Duke exclaimed. “1 Baker 1113?” He looked at their informant, who thought for a moment and nodded.

“Could be,” he agreed.

“What happened to the car?” Steve asked. It was a minor detail, but he had assumed it was still at HPD lockup being examined.

“I’ll check.” Duke took a couple of steps away and spoke into the radio on his shoulder. 

Disdainfully, Steve handed the money over to the witness. “You give this officer your real name and address,” he informed the man, not quite letting go of the notes. “If I have to come looking for you, you won’t like that.”

Cowed, the witness nodded agreement. Steve stepped away and looked around.

“Steve.” Duke came across. “The car was released yesterday to Mrs Shem junior. As her late husband’s property, it was released to her as the next of kin.”

“Put out an APB,” Steve ordered. “We have to find her!”

“Already done,” Duke confirmed.

This was the part of an investigation that Steve found the most frustrating. He had to wait for information to reach him before he could act and waiting was not his long suit. He crossed back to his car so he could hear all the broadcasts on the radio and absently watched as the fire department allowed people back into Danny’s building. It had been a false alarm.

A few moments later, Chin and Kono arrived. “Danny?” Kono asked anxiously.

“Gone,” Steve replied. “Report.”

“Mrs Shem was at work, just like they said,” Kono offered, “but she was on her break at the time the call was made to Danny’s hospital room. I’ve ordered the restaurant’s phone records for that day and put a rush on it. I expect to hear any time. This morning, she was on her break again when the flowers were ordered.”

“The florist gave me a good description of the man and the woman from this morning. He confirmed the woman as Mrs Shem junior from a photo,” Chin added.

“Remind me of the description of the man,” Steve requested. 

“The man is tall, blond, with longish hair. He looks like a Californian surfer and was wearing a sloppy t-shirt and shorts.”

“Same description as the man who took Danny away,” Steve commented tightly.

“Not only that, bruddah,” Kono interjected excitedly, “but he fits the description of a busboy at the restaurant where Mrs Shem works. She’s very friendly with him. His name is…” Kono flipped his notebook to find the right page. “Scott Donaldson.”

“Add his description and Mrs Shem’s to the APB,” Steve ordered. “Find out an address for him and for her.”

“Hers is still on file with HPD,” Chin commented. “I’ll get Duke to run it down.” He hurried across to the sergeant. He came back a few minutes later with an address in a poorer part of town.

“All right, let’s start there,” Steve decreed. “I don’t think she’d be dumb enough to take him there, but let’s go and see.” He glanced at Duke. “And when I have Danno back safe and sound, I want to see that cop who was guarding him. I want his badge!”

“Right, Steve,” Duke agreed. He had a few choice words to say to the man as well – if there was anything left of him by the time Steve was through.


	11. Chapter 11

The car braked to a halt and the engine was switched off. “Now what, darlin’?” Scott asked.

“We go up the hill,” Sue Shem replied.

There was only one hill they could be going up and only one destination when they got to the top – they were at Diamond Head and they were going to the bunker where William Shem had died. Danny knew he had to get away before they got to the top, but trussed up the way he was, unable to see, he stood no chance. He yelped as the tape was ripped off his eyes, taking a few lashes with it. He longed to raise his hands and wipe the sticky residue off his face, but his broken collarbone would not allow such a manoeuvre and he suspected that any attempt to do that would be interpreted as an attempt to remove the tape from his mouth. Of course, he reflected wryly, trying to push aside his fear, that is exactly what he would be trying to do.

The highway was quiet as Danny was pushed from the car. He glanced around and realised instantly that they were in the wrong parking bay! This was not the bay below the bunker! The urge to say something was powerful, but more than just the tape kept Danny quiet. This might be his only chance of escape, although he had no idea who that opportunity might present itself. He was dragged across the road and it was only as they stood at the base of the steep hill that it occurred to his captors that there was no way they could take a bound man up that hill.

“Damn it!” Sue shrieked and swung round and slapped Danny, as though it was his fault. There was almost nowhere for anyone to get any purchase at that part of the hill, able-bodied or not. “How did you get up there?” she demanded. “How?”

With silence his only option, Danny kept his gaze on the young woman. She might figure it out on her own. She might not. He winced as her nails scraped on his cheek and then she tore the tape from his mouth. “Answer me!” she yelled.

“I walked,” he replied and let her think what she liked. He knew she had seen him disappear into the undergrowth. It just wasn’t this undergrowth.

For several minutes, she prowled backwards and forwards, looking for the path that Danny had taken. Donaldson kept his gun tightly against Danny’s ribs and maintained his hold on the injured man’s elbow. Danny tried to ease his position, for his shoulder was incredibly painful, but that just earned him a sharp shake that set everything throbbing.

At length, Sue came back to them. “We must be at the wrong spot,” she decided. “There’s no way up the hill here.”

“Sugar, why don’t we just shoot him here and throw him onto the rocks?” Donaldson asked.

“No! It’s got to be at the bunker!” she retorted sharply. “It has to be where Bill died.”

“Ah, Sugar, don’t fret yourself,” Donaldson coaxed. “He’s gone and you got me now. Kill this guy, yeah, and then we can be happy and go back to California.”

“Shut up, Scott!” Sue shouted. “You don’t understand.”

The man looked offended. “I thought you loved me,” he whined.

“She doesn’t love anyone,” Danny told him. “She only loves herself.”

“Shut up!” Sue swung on the hapless detective, but Scott beat her to it. The punch he drove into Danny’s belly knocked the detective off his feet and as pain flared in his shoulder, Danny thought he would be sick. His head swam as the pain shot up the side of his neck and down his arm and when he was dragged to his feet he thought he would pass out.

Somehow, he made it back to the car without throwing up or passing out. He slumped along the back seat, breathing carefully through his mouth and trying not to groan aloud. He wasn’t entirely successful.

The car drove for only a short time before it pulled over again. Donaldson dragged Danny from the back seat and had to support him for several moments before Danny was able to find his balance. He cautiously raised his head, winced at the pain that caused, and squinted at his surroundings. His heart sank. It appeared that Mrs Shem had found the correct spot this time.

As he was dragged across the road, Danny knew that there was no way that he could climb that hill. The fall a few minutes before had done something to his injured shoulder, for he could no long carry his head properly; if it wasn’t canted over to the left, the pain threatened to overwhelm him completely. Spots danced in front of his eyes.

“This is it!” Sue crowed. “This is the place.” She started to scramble up the path.

Moving at all was a nightmare and Danny baulked as Donaldson pushed him onto the path. “No!” 

“Get up there, cop!” Donaldson replied. He spun Danny around and shoved him upwards. Danny stumbled and fell, screaming out in agony as he landed face down. The world contracted abruptly and he blacked out.

*****************************************

Mrs Shem’s house was deserted. That was no surprise, but it was frustrating. As yet, they had no address for Donaldson, but Steve was sure Danny was not there. “Where could she have taken him?” he demanded angrily. Time was ticking away and every second put Danny’s life in more danger.

“The phone company confirms the call was made from Mrs Shem’s workplace,” Kono reported, exiting the car. “HPD came up with Donaldson’s address, but it’s a demolished building.”

“They wouldn’t have taken Danno there anyway,” Steve muttered. He paced up and down, thinking.

“Her co-workers say that apart from Donaldson, she doesn’t have many friends,” Kono offered.

“She wouldn’t take Danny somewhere that there would be many other people,” Steve thought aloud. “She won’t want witnesses.”

“Diamond Head,” Chin breathed.

“What?” Steve had heard perfectly well, but he wanted a few more seconds for that idea to take root.

“Diamond Head,” Chin repeated. “Where Shem died.”

“That’s it, Chin!” Steve shouted. “That’s it!” He dived for the car, the other two men hurrying after him. “She’s taken him back to the bunker! Alert all units to close in there, but no sirens. We don’t want to spook her!” He turned the big car and gunned it down the road, heading for the scene of the shooting. Beside him, Kono was shouting instructions into the microphone. Pleased, God, Steve thought, let Danno still be alive!


	12. Chapter 12

As he drifted awake, Danny was aware of voices arguing. He was still lying more or less on his face and he knew, from the sickening pain in his shoulder, that he would be unable to get up unassisted. With his eyes still shut, he forced himself to listen to the voices. He identified them immediately as Sue and Scott.

“I don’t understand why you want to kill him at the bunker,” Scott was arguing, his tone perilously close to whining. “It should be enough that he’s dead.”

“You never understood, did you, Scott?” Sue sniped back. “You don’t understand all that much, do you? Why would you be willing to help me kill someone?”

“I love you,” Scott protested. “I want to make you happy. I want you to marry me.”

“Marry?” Sue screamed. “I already married one boy and look what happened! You’re no better than he was! I want a man to look after me!”

“I’ll look after you, darlin’,” he cried.

“You can’t even look after yourself,” she returned scathingly. “I got you that job at the restaurant; I gave you somewhere to live; I thought up this plan.”

“I’ll do better,” the young man whimpered. “Honest, Sue.” He sounded close to tears. “I love you enough to risk going to prison for you.”

“More fool you,” she retorted. “You’re as crazy as Bill was!”

“Don’t say that!” Scott was angry now and Danny risked cracking his eyes open a little to peer at the couple through his lashes. Scott’s face was suffused with colour and his eyes were bulging. “I’m not crazy!” he bellowed. “I’m not and don’t you say I am!”

For a moment, Sue cringed away from him, but then she drew herself up and was right back in his face. “You are crazy, Scott,” she hissed venomously. “If you hadn’t escaped from that institution back on the mainland, you’d still be locked up, because you’re crazier than a snake!”

“Don’t say that!” Scott backed away from her, his arms wrapping around his body protectively. “Don’t say that!”

“You’re no use to me now, Scotty,” Sue purred, her tone suddenly loving and kind. Scott stopped moving, obviously having difficulty assimilating the words with the tone.

The gunshot was startling and Danny flinched, wincing in pain from the movement. For a long moment, he had no idea what had happened, and then Scott moaned softly and collapsed to his knees. “Sue,” he breathed and she fired again, hitting him in the head.

Over the years, Danny had seen some horrific things in his police career, but that moment was probably the worst he had ever endured. Shock caused him to vomit where he lay and he knew that it was a sight he would never forget. He could feel his body shaking.

To compound his horror, Sue appeared to be unmoved by the atrocity she had just perpetrated. Casually lowering the gun, she stepped over Scott and looked down at Danny in disgust. “Get to your feet, cop,” she ordered and when he didn’t move, she grabbed his left arm and pulled.

Just a few minutes before, Danny would have taken oath that he was unable to get to his feet without help. Now, he used a surge of adrenalin to propel himself off the ground and, heedless of the gun in Sue’s hand, he launched himself at his captor and head-butted her viciously in the face.

The gun dropped form Sue’s hand as she screamed in anguish and rage, her hands flying to her face. The gun went off as it hit the ground, the bullet disappearing into the undergrowth. Danny kicked the gun away and slid down the few feet of dusty track to the shoulder of the road. His feet hit the asphalt with jarring forced and he stumbled and fell to his knees. Behind him, he could hear Sue Shem shrieking and sobbing from the pain of her broken nose and the sounds drove him to regain his feet once more and stumble away, back towards Honolulu and safety.

“Come back!” the crazed woman cried, her voice distorted and nasal. “Come back so I can kill you!”

Panting raggedly, Danny tried to increase his speed, but putting one foot in front of the other was becoming harder with every stumbling step. The world was oddly sepia coloured and seemed to be expanding and contracting in a most alarming manner. Dimly, Danny knew he was almost certainly going to pass out very soon.

There was a sudden screeching of brakes and Danny was buffeted by the displaced air of a car speeding past too close. He gulped in air. Had he wandered further onto the road than he thought? He blinked sharply, trying to bring the world into sharper focus, but it didn’t work.

Another car sound intruded, but Danny realised that it sounded wrong. He stumbled to a stop and braced himself for who-knew-what as the car reversed towards him. 

It was only when Steve spring from the car that Danny realised that help had arrived. “Danno!” Steve exclaimed in horror and darted over to grasp his friend’s arm firmly.

“Steve?” Danny squinted upwards to confirm that it really was his friend. “Steve… Mrs Shem… She’s just… up there. Dangerous,” he concluded as his knees buckled.

Reluctant to leave Danny, Steve nevertheless had to make sure the deranged woman was taken into custody. He surrendered Danny’s care to Kono and he and Chin went on foot along the road, guns drawn. The shouting and sobbing alerted them to her position and they approached cautiously, prepared for anything.

“Come back so I can kill you,” she pleaded as Steve slowly stepped into eye contact with her. Sue’s face was covered in blood and her hair was wild, tangled into the bushes behind her. The gun lay a short distance from her and Steve kept her covered what Chin took control of the weapon. When it was secure, Steve holstered his own gun and stepped up to her, easily capturing her wrists and gently handcuffing her hands behind her. Sue barely seemed aware of him.

“I think that’s Scott Donaldson,” Chin told Steve, looking rather green around the gills, “but we’ll need to wait for official confirmation from the autopsy to be sure.”

“Better get a team out here,” Steve suggested. He glanced briefly at the pitiful remains and noted the clothes fitted the description of what Scott Donaldson had been wearing. Swallowing down the urge to vomit as he added another to the unwanted memories, Steve allowed Chin to take charge of Sue and hurried back to where Danny was now sitting in the car, Kono crouched by his side. Danny had his eyes closed, but he opened them as Steve approached.

“Did you…?” Danny didn’t complete the question but he had no need to; Steve knew what he meant.

“I got her,” Steve assured his friend. He gestured behind him and Danny half-nodded. His eyes closed and Steve took the opportunity to examine Danny more closely. His friend was pale and splattered with blood and grime. He crouched down by Danny as Kono stepped aside and mouthed “Ambulance?” Kono nodded. “Danno, is any of this blood yours?” he asked gently.

“Dunno,” Danny admitted. “Don’t think so.”

“His hands were tied with this, boss,” Kono offered quietly, holding out the duct tape distastefully.

By now, Chin stood nearby with Mrs Shem, who was still crying. He apparently shared Steve’s unspoken reluctance to place the woman in the car while Danny was sitting in it. Chin moved slightly to look at the younger man and Mrs Shem’s eyes fell on the injured man. “You!” she cried. “It’s all your fault! I thought when you brought Bill down I would get my sunshine, rainbows and happily ever after, but you killed him!” She wiped her face on her should, smearing blood everywhere. “Bill would’ve been all right if you’d just talked him down.”

It hardly seemed possible, but Danny paled even further. He shuddered. Steve put a comforting hand on Danny’s leg and squeezed supportively, noting in passing that the knees were torn out of Danny’s pants. “You did what you had to do,” he reminded Danny in a low voice. “Even if we had managed to talk Shem down – and you know we tried – he would never have been all right. She would never have had her sunshine, rainbows and happily ever after.”

After a long moment, Danny’s eyes opened again. “I know,” he admitted, which was a relief to Steve – Danny could take on guilt that was not his to bear. “Besides,” the injured man added, “Hawaii has lots of sunshine and rainbows. She just needs to look around.”


	13. Chapter 13

Always impatient, it seemed to Steve that the ambulance took forever to reach them. He wanted to climb into the back with Danny, but Mrs Shem had to be taken into custody and someone had to wait for the coroner’s wagon and the crime team. Chin remained at the car with the distraught woman while Steve and Kono went back to the crime scene and looked around. It seemed pretty obvious what had happened and they left the finding of bullet shells and the like for the crime team to do. Once Steve had given his orders, they went back to the car and took Mrs Shem to HPD lock-up where they were met by a psychiatrist from the state hospital who assessed Sue Shem before taking her to the hospital under a mandatory hold, heavily sedated. 

Almost two hours had passed before the three detectives arrived at the hospital. “Officer Williams?” Steve asked the receptionist, flashing his badge, and was directed to a waiting room. They were only there for a few minutes when Dr Bergman joined them. “How’s Danno?” Steve asked anxiously.

“He’s in surgery, having his collar bone manipulated back into place,” Doc replied. “He’s dehydrated and bruised and his knees are a bit torn up, but he’s going to be fine.”

“What happened to him?” Steve demanded.

“He was pretty groggy from pain,” Bergman replied, “but from what I gather, he was pushed to the ground with his hands tied together and his collar bone was slightly displaced. There isn’t any damage to the sub-clavian artery, thankfully, but it was a bad enough injury. I’m going to be keeping him here for a couple of days so we can keep an eye on him. He’s going to need quite a bit of pain relief to begin with. It’s almost like breaking the bone all over again.” Bergman looked at Steve. “Your turn now. How come my patient is back in here with an aggravated injury?”

Quickly, Steve explained about Mrs Shem and the kidnapping. “You can rest assured, that officer will no longer be working for HPD,” Steve vowed as he concluded the story.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Bergman reminded him quietly and Chin and Kono exchanged looks behind McGarrett’s back. It was a mistake, but since the officer already knew Danny’s life was at risk – that was why he had pulled guard duty after all – this was an unforgivable mistake to them all. Police work couldn’t be run by the clock at times. Everyone pulled overtime sometimes; leaving before your relief arrived was seriously unprofessional and raised questions about the officer’s fitness for duty in the first place. Both detectives were glad that they were not going to be on the receiving end of McGarrett’s anger when he confronted the officer.

“This ‘mistake’ almost cost Danno his life!” Steve reminded the doctor sharply. There was really no come-back to that comment and Bergman wisely didn’t try to find one.

A few minutes later, a nurse appeared to inform them that Danny was in recovery. Bergman led the way as they trooped through the hospital to the recovery room. Steve immediately crossed to Danny’s side where an older man in grey hair was writing on a chart. “Doctor?”

Turning, the man extended his hand. “Jack Harris,” he introduced himself. “I’ve just re-set Officer Williams’ shoulder. It was quite straight forward and although he’ll be very sore for a few days, there was very little additional damage. There will be quite a bit of bruising, though and I would advise keeping him here for a few days so we can make sure that he is able to do things like hold his head up correctly. The muscles have been damaged, obviously, and he might need a little physical therapy in that regard. We’ll know more for sure in a few days.”

“Thank you.” Steve nodded and went over to look down on the still-sleeping Danny. The blood and brain matter had been washed from Danny’s face and hair. He was pale, but that was to be expected. The main thing was that Danny was going to be all right.

As if on cue, Danny stirred slightly and opened his eyes. He blinked sleepily, gave Steve a slight smile and promptly went back to sleep. Steve smiled, even though Danny couldn’t see it. “I’ll be back later,” he promised.

There was always paperwork to be done and Danny would not wake for several hours. Steve could do the paperwork and return later, but all he really needed to know was that Danny was going to be all right. He stepped back to let the other two men have a peep at their slumbering friend.

Tomorrow, he would speak to the officer that had left Danny unprotected and while Steve fully intended to make sure that he was no longer one of HPD’s finest after that, perhaps this good news would make him slightly more lenient in the way he phrased his displeasure. Maybe. The loose ends of this case were tidied up and while Danny might require physical therapy and perhaps a chat with someone about Scott Donaldson’s horrific death, Steve just knew that his friend was going to be okay.

As Danny had said, Hawaii had lots of sunshine, rainbows and happily ever after.

PAU


End file.
